


Timelines

by Maximum_Writes_Shit (orphan_account)



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Other, mooop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-05-27 20:50:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6299941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Maximum_Writes_Shit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a nice day. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming. Had it been any other day, Sans might have been happy. Had the run gone differently, he might have laid down. But, no. He couldn’t. He had a job to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One: The Morning After

**Author's Note:**

> Look at this nerd who has never EVER written fanfiction. (thas me).

     Sans woke with a start. He didn’t remember going to bed,he didn’t remember where he had been last night. Not again, he thought bleakly. He knew what must have happened. They had gotten bored again. They had reset, again. Sans was tired of this. He was tired of not remembering. He was tired of living in fear that when he went to bed, he might wake up having forgotten again.

     The only reason Sans knew when the resets had happened for certain, was their reports. Their reports showed him that the anomaly had changed something again, that the timeline had reset. Their reports couldn’t show him what had happened in the last reset, so he never knew for certain. Sometimes he would get flashes of memories, little glimpses of past lives.

      _Wonder how this route is gonna go. Probably not well._ What could he say, Sans had gained a bleak outlook on life, growing worse with every reset. With the knowledge of what happened, he got dressed and went downstairs, ready for Papyrus's familiar shouting. Sans probably slept to much, anyway. When Sans got downstairs, he made himself coffee as Papyrus began to yell.

     “SANS! YOU LAZY BONES! IT’S ALREADY PAST NOON! YOU’RE GOING TO BE LATE!” Papyrus was stamping his feet to vent his aggravation.

     “Well bro, why are you still here then? You’re gonna be late too.”

     “IF I LEFT WITHOUT YOU, YOU WOULDN’T COME TO WORK AT ALL.” Sans guessed he was probably right. Papyrus had nagged him until he accepted the job, anyway. If Papyrus wasn’t here, Sans would probably never leave his bed.

     “Well, I’m up now, so as soon as my coffee's done, we can go.” The coffee machine whirred to a stop. Sans grabbed his mug as Papyrus pulled on his big red boots.

     “COME BROTHER! TODAY IS THE DAY THAT I CAPTURE A HUMAN AND BECOME RICH, FAMOUS, AND POPULAR!” With that, Papyrus marched out the door, practically dragging Sans behind him. Sans secretly hoped that the human never shows up. Sans would be fine if they took this reset and left forever. Maybe they had finally grown bored. Nah, that was too good to be true. When they reached Sans’s sentry point, it was already almost one o’clock.

Time for Sans’s post-lunch break.


	2. Chapter Two: Grillby's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans goes out for a bit of "lunch" at Grillby's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a nerd who can't write well. So this is like a block of dialougue. And yeah. Yay. Also keep in mind I've never written before so this is my testy do

     As soon as Papyrus left Sans took one of his “shortcuts” to get to Grillby’s. The bar was almost empty, and a quiet tune was playing on the old jukebox. He sat down at the bar. 

     “What’ll it be?” Grillby asked, his deep voice rumbling.

     “Just some ketchup.” Sans said. Grillby nodded, and snapped his fingers. A bottle of ketchup appeared in a cloud of fire magic. Sans grabbed it and started chugging it. 

     “You’re eating faster than usual, are you going somewhere?”

     “Nah, just worried about something.”

     “You want something a little stronger?” Grillby snapped again, summoning a bottle of cider this time.

     “Can’t, I’m on duty.” Sans shrugged, downing the rest of the ketchup. “Wouldn’t say no to another bottle of ketchup though.” Grillby summoned another bottle and handed it to Sans, taking the empty one from him.

     “Tell me your troubles, my friend.” Grillby said, his glasses reflecting the light coming from his flames.

     “Sorry Grillby. You wouldn’t understand.”

     “Try me.” Sans couldn’t argue with that.

     “Have you ever felt like you’ve forgotten something Grillby? Something important?” Sans was speaking quietly, wondering how Grillby would react.

     “... I forgot my daughters birthday once.” Sans shook his head.

     “No, I mean bigger than that. Something really important. Something that shouldn’t be forgotten, that you would never forget.”

     “...No.” Exactly like Sans thought he would react. It didn’t matter anyway.

     “I didn’t think so. It doesn’t matter, anyway. You wouldn’t be able to remember it anyways. It   doesn’t matter.” Grillby didn’t say anything. Grillby was a good listener. He didn’t like talking very much. Sans took the silence as his cue to leave. 

     “Sorry I couldn’t stay longer. I’ve got someone to meet before I go back to work,” and with that, Sans left.


	3. Chapter Three: The Knock and the Answer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans goes out for a meeting with an old friend

Sans didn’t take a shortcut this time. He savored the walk through the woods, how quiet it was, how peaceful. He still walked quickly though, he had someone to meet with. A very special someone.  
Now, Sans and Papyrus, they didn’t have many of what one would call friends. Their friends were nice, although small in number. This woman though, she was different. She was very special. If you were to ask Sans her name, he couldn’t say. They had never told each other. But every day at one thirty on the dot, they would meet. They would talk and tell jokes until Sans had to go back to “work”.  
Sans had arrived at a large purple door. The symbol of the royal family was painted on the door in a slightly lighter purple. He wasn’t completely sure where the door lead, but he assumed it went to Home, the place where the monsters had stayed when they were first banished to the Underground. Sans had never seen it, but he had read that it was small, and very old. He couldn’t believe that their had been anybody still in there, when he had first met her.  
When Sans had first met this lady, he had been practicing knock knock jokes on a big door in the middle of the woods. The door didn’t stand out to him. It was plain. So he practiced for a while until one time, he had gotten a lovely surprise.  
“Knock knock,” Sans had said, for the thousandth time, setting up the joke.   
“Who is there?” Sans jumped. He hadn’t expected anyone to answer.  
“Uuuum… Dishes,” Sans gulped, hoping he had recovered enough to properly pull off the joke.  
“Dishes who?” Said the voice. The voice was soft and gentle, kind. The kind of voice that made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It was muffled by the doors bulk, but Sans could still hear her, loud and clear.  
“Dishes a really bad joke.” Sans heard laughing. He took this as his cue to keep making jokes. This cycle went on, until they moved on from just bad puns and began to talk. About anything, about everything. It was good.  
Sans knocked on the huge door, and started out the meeting, hoping she was there.   
“Knock knock.”  
“Who is there?” There it was. Sans craved the sound of her voice. She was one of the few good things in his crappy life, and he didn’t even know her name.  
“Figs”  
“Figs who?”  
“Figs your doorbell, it’s not working.” At this, she cracked up. She had a cute laugh, although it was hard for Sans to hear through the thick wall. Soon they were back into routine, talking and laughing. It was nice, until suddenly things got quiet.  
“Can you promise me something?” The lady behind the door asked Sans.   
“Depends. I’m not very good at keeping my promises.” Sans said with a forced laugh. He knew what was coming. This was always one of the moments he did remember after the resets. Every time.  
“If… If a human ever comes through this door, can you promise me to watch out for them?” She asked him. “Make sure they have food, and are safe, and remember to tie their shoelaces, and drink enough water. Just, look out for them and take care of them?” Her voice faltered and became unsteady.  
“Um, yeah of course.” Sans knew he shouldn’t promise. Every run, the human was different. He couldn’t be sure of what they would do. They were unpredictable. The variable in a world of constants.   
“Good.” Suddenly, loud crashing noises began to echo through the forest.  
“SANS!! YOU LAZY BONES WHERE ARE YOU?” It was Paps. Crap. Sans was going to get an earful for this.   
“Who is that?” The woman asked.  
“That’s my little bro. I gotta go, see you tomorrow!” Sans teleported to a clearing a few feet from his station.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh. I don't know if I should keep going with this or not...


	4. Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans meets someone for some science

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been too long since I last updated so, here ya go friends.

“SANS! DO YOU THINK METTATON WILL LIKE THIS SPAGHETTI?” Papyrus asked excitedly. He was going on a date tonight, and had insisted on having Sans help him prepare for every aspect of it, even though he and Mettaton went on a date almost every other night.  
“Yeah bro, he’ll love it.” No he wouldn’t. It was bad. Better than Paps other attempts, but still terrible. Sans would pay to see Mettaton stomach it. He probably would though, and then exclaim how delectable it was and so on. No matter how much of a pretentious douche Sans thought Mettaton was, he was kind towards Paps.  
Sans was practically bouncing as he waited for Paps to leave. He had things to do, and he couldn’t do them when Papyrus was around.   
When he finally left, Sans teleported to the basement, no need to unlock the door or anything. The basement was a mess, not unlike anything else in their home, and there were cracks running through the tiled floors. Bits of broken machinery and notes were scattered everywhere. In one dark corner of the small basement was a large curtain, hiding an old machine. He had only vague ideas of who had owned the workshop before him, and hated to remind himself of them.   
He had to though. They are the reason Sans knew anything about the resets, or LOVE or “determination” at all. If Sans were to forget them like everyone else had, he might be just like them. Not recognizing how pointless it all was.  
Sans had come down here to see the reports. Every reset, they would write a report. On the last reset, on the anomaly, on the variables. Their research had to be secret. Normally, Sans would go to Alphys about this, but she was a bit of a blabbermouth. Besides, she probably couldn’t understand anyways. Her last project had gone terribly. She was bright, but she was forgetful and sloppy. She was not the kind of scientist to deal with this.  
Sans waited, and waited some more. They would come soon. He was sure of it. They always came.   
Soon enough, they came. They weren’t solid, not completely. Their body’s mass was shifting and swirling, like a cloud of some sort. If you were to reach out and try to touch you would phase right through.  
“Hello, Sans.” Their voice was warbled and staticy, like a bad radio signal. The language was one never spoken by anything else in the world. No one could understand it except Sans. Sans knew how the voice had sounded before it became like this. Before the accident. No one else remembered. No one but Sans. Another secret to bear. Another thing to remember. Sans had to remember the way they used to look, the way they used to sound. Before they were “they”. When “they” was “him”. When “him” was “Dad”.   
“Hey, Gaster.”


End file.
